PCV in Kenya: Week 9

Monday

I woke up to the news that the Chiefs had won the Super Bowl. I did a demonstration in chemistry and my biology classes had their first quiz today. After lunch, I packed up and went to the market for my usual vegetables then continued walking down the road to my language lesson with Elma. It was our best lesson yet which I attribute to the sodas we purchased for the meeting. We worked for two hours and I went home right after. At home, I swept the floors (a truly never-ending battle) and worked on a few items before heating up dinner. I watched “Downton Abbey” while closing out the day.

Tuesday

With our new schedule, Tuesdays are my busiest teaching day with lessons from 9AM-1PM. Still, it leaves me with more planning time than I’ve ever had before. I worked on some Peace Corps paperwork before heading out for the day. Once I got home, I made cabbage and pancakes. I know, it is a very strange combo. Dan, my host brother during pre-service training, told me to try it one day and it is actually a great combo. I was craving pancakes anyway, so the cabbage made it feel like somewhat of an actual dinner. I started watching “The Legend of Tarzan” before going to bed.

Wednesday

Happy Valentine’s Day 😊 It hit me today how quickly time is flying by. Tomorrow will be two months since swearing in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. It just doesn’t feel like it has already been two months at site and almost five months in Kenya. It was another good school day. When I left work, I wanted to treat myself with something for Valentine’s Day, so I splurged on a 2L soda to keep in my fridge. The only problem with this treat is that it didn’t fit in my mini fridge the way I had things arranged, so I spent some time rearranging the shelves to fit my treat lol. On the walk home, I met a new neighbor called Sue. She is close to my age and has a degree in human resources. It is nice to meet people close to my age. Once I got home, I made a new background for my laptop, called my mom, and heated up dinner. I finished watching “The Legend of Tarzan” to end Valentine’s Day.

Thursday

I had my early class today and it went well. I marked books and quizzes for the rest of the day. We had eggs with veggies and ugali today instead of the usual beef stew. A notable change to the usual constants in my week 😊 I had my meeting with my supervisor today, Principal Richard, and then went to the lab for preps time. Preps time is an hour of the day where teachers can catch up on lessons or students can go to teachers for help. I used this time today to set up the microscope in the lab and students could come and look at specimens under it. The students that decided to come had so much fun looking at a variety of things from outside under the microscope. On my walk home, I stopped in at the market and I saw Sarah, the woman who sells dresses and skirts. She had two skirts to give me for my birthday which was so kind and they are so cute and fun (Sarah and one of the skirts are pictured above). I picked up some vegetables and continued home. I had time to talk to Warren, Morgan, and Maverick which was great. I watched an episode of “Yellowstone” and started watching “Orion and the Dark” before calling it a day.

Friday

I had another busy but good day. I did two double lesson lab practicals with my students. The students really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed it, but I was so tired at the end of the day. Before I went home for the day, I reached out to a school in America through Global Connections to hopefully match our students together in a cultural exchange. Phan also surprised me with all my letters from the school post office box that had come in throughout the week which was an awesome way to end the school day. I walked home and watched “Yellowstone” and “Love on the Spectrum” while eating my dinner of rice and cabbage. I called it a day very early because I was so tired from the week.

Saturday

Since I had gone to sleep so early the day before, I was awake when the sun came out. I got to work preparing my laundry buckets and then swept and mopped my house. I then finished my laundry and Sammy came to spray my roof with bleach water where we think there might be mold. In the afternoon, I rested with Nala in the hammock until it was time to walk to the market to pick Rikki up. Rikki is another Peace Corps Volunteer. She came to town this weekend for my birthday tomorrow 😊 I ran into four of my students on the walk to the market and they were so sweet, shaking my hand and saying hello. It was so good to see Rikki. When we got to my house, we started making dinner. We made roasted squash, vegetables, and beans. It was actually really good. For dessert, we had some gummy bears and Rikki brought coconut and chocolate cookies which were amazing. We tried watching “The Godfather” but neither of us could get into it so we watched “Monk” instead. Nala loves Rikki, so it was so cute to see her be snuggly with someone besides me 😊

Sunday

My Birthday! 😊 We had coffee and some cereal before getting ready for the pool. We walked to the pool and got there around 10AM. Olivia, Caroline, and Josh met us there. Nick (my friend who owns the pool) had prepared pancakes, toast, guacamole, fruit salad, and eggs for us and it all tasted amazing. After stuffing ourselves, we swam all day. We took a break around 2PM for cake and fries. Yes, I know my cake says Ann. In Kenya, I respond to Hannah, Ann, Achieng (my local name given to me by Baba Charles), mwalimu (it means teacher), and Mama Nala. We sang “Happy Birthday” and “Cut the Cakie”. I got to feed everyone a piece of cake in true Kenyan fashion. I also got icing put on my face by each person, again in true Kenyan fashion. It was so fun 😊 We all headed out around 6PM. Caroline came back to my house so we could make some dinner and hangout more before work tomorrow. In the last two days, it’s become clear that Nala loves backpacks. She has always played in mine, but after her sleeping in Rikki’s backpack yesterday and Caroline’s today, it’s fair to say she likes a backpack lol. Overall, today was a birthday for the books and it was a great way to end the week.

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